"Will Brigham Young fight?"
inquired Schuyler Colfax of Elder Stenhouse, during his sojourn at Salt
Lake City in 1869.1 "For
God's sake. Mr Colfax." answered the elder, "keep the United
States off. If the govermnent interferes and sends troops, you will spoil
the opportunity, and drive the thousands back into the arms of Brigham
Young who are ready to rebel against the one-man power. Leave the elders
alone to solve their own problems. We can do it; the government cannot."
But with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, none of the presidents were
of the opinion that it was best to leave the Mormons alone. At this date
there is little doubt that Grant was resolved on the suppression of polygamy,
even if need be at the cost of war. Meanwhile the famous Cullom

1Colfax
also visited Utah in 1865. For reception and purpose of visit, see Richardson's
Beyond the Miss., 345-6, 348-9; Bowles' Our New West, 203-4;
Tullidge's Life of Brigham Young, 355-8; Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain
Saints, 613-15. For speech of Colfax, in 1869, in which, probably, the
sentence most acceptable to the Mormons was the concluding line, 'I bid
you all good night and good by.' see The Mormon Question (S. L. City,
1870), wherein is also a reply by John Taylor, an article on the Mormon
question by the vice-president, published in the New York Independent,
and a rejoinder by Taylor.

anti-polygamy bill2
was before the representatives, and the honorable Thomas Fitch was amusing
congress with his speeches on the prospect of another Mormon war.3
Early in 1870 mass-meetings were held at the tabernacle, by men and women,
to protest against the bill, and to draw up a remonstrance against its
provisions. A memorial was also prepared and forwarded to congress, setting
forth the revelation on polygamy and the duties of the Mormon church in
that connection, wherein it was declared that the church would stand by
its faith and polygamy institutions in spite of all human will and law.4
During this year, also, an act was passed by the territorial legislature,
granting the right of suffrage to women, but the measure subsequently
adopted in Wyoming and elsewhere seemed to be in advance of the times,5
or was in some way unpopular, and little use has ever been made of the
privilege.6

Among those who realized the danger
of the situation were the leaders of the Godbeite movement, who well knew
that, in the event of another Mormon war, the dramatic farce of Buchanan's
administration could not be reinacted, and that if the United States government
again entered into the controversy, it would never withdraw from it until
it had cut with its sword the Gordian knot of Mormonism.

2For debate
and amendments when the bill passed the representatives, see Cong. Globe,
1869-70, 2180-1.

4For
copy of memorial and resolutions, see Sen. Misc. Doc., 41st Cong.
2d Sess., no. 112, The Utah Bill, 33-40, wherein is a speech by
delegate W. H. Hooper, delivered before the representatives March 23,
1870, and published in pamphlet form, as was also the speech of Aaron
H. Cragin before the senate, May 18, 1870, the two forming nos. 4 and
5 in Utah Pamphlets, Political. The memorial and resolutions were
referred to a committee which of course reported adversely. H. Corn.
Rept, 41st Cong. 2d Sess., i. no. 21.

Already the apostles had declared their intention of laying
the settlements of Utah in ashes and leading their people in another exodus;
but an effort was made to save them, and from a source somewhat unexpected.
It was resolved by the leaders of the Godbeite faction that William Godbe
should proceed to Washington and state to the president the true condition
of affairs. "Mr Godbe," remarked the latter, after listening
to his arguments, "I am as solicitous as you can possibly be to preserve
the Mormon people;" and then he declared that he would save them
from their leaders by checkmating their policy. During his visit Godbe
also sought an interview with Cullom, and discussed with him the provisions
of the bill, section by section, pleading his cause with such warmth and
earnestness that all the animus of the congressman gave way, and the bill
was not brought up for action in the senate. The substance of the policy
recommended by the emissary of the liberal party in Utah was to establish
over Utah a firm and efficient federal rule, rather than resort to special
legislation or armed interference; and in these views the president heartily
concurred.

J. Wilson Shaffer of Illinois,
an old comrade of Rawlins, then secretary of war, was the man selected
for the occasion, and on the resignation of Durkee, was appointed in his
stead.7 At this time Shaffer was
suffering from an incurable disease, and knew that he had but a few months
to live. Nevertheless he accepted office as a trust from the president.
"Never after me," he declared, "shall it be said that Brigham
Young is governor of Utah." On the 15th of September, 1870, the annual
muster of the Nauvoo legion being then at hand, he issued a proclamation
forbidding all musters, drills, or gatherings of the militia, and all
gatherings of armed persons of whatever

7The interregnum
between Durkee's resignation and the arrival of Shaffer was filled by secretaries
Edwin Higgins and S. A. Mann, to the latter of whom the women of Utah tendered
their thanks for signing the female-suffrage bill. See Deseret News,
March 2, 1870. For complimentary resolutions from legislature, see Utah
Jour. Legisl., 1870, 183.

description, except as a posse comitatus ordered forth
by himself or by the United States marshal.8

After some correspondence with
General Wells, the musters in the various districts were postponed until
further notice, by command of the latter, though they had been regularly
held for eighteen years, and returns duly made, in accordance with an
act of congress approved in 1803. In 1870 the militia, which has never
since been assembled, included about 13,000 men, most of them efficiently
armed, drilled, and equipped, while the United States troops stationed
at Camp Douglas, Camp Rawlins in Utah county, and elsewhere in the territory,
numbered only a few hundred.9

The proclamation was ill-advised,
and for what purpose it was issued, save as a puerile expression of the

governor's authority, does not appear. The result, however,
was most unfortunate; for the soldiery, among whom discipline appears
to have been somewhat lax at this period, now supposed themselves masters
of the situation. At midnight on the 23d of September a party of forty
or fifty men from Camp Rawlins entered the town of Provo, armed with needle-guns,
bayonets, and revolvers, and crazed with whiskey. Surrounding the residence
of Alderman W. Miller, they fired several shots into his bedroom window,
smashed in his doors, and dragged him from his chamber. Thence passing
up Centre street, they tore down the sign and stove in the doors of the
coöperative store, and then proceeded to the house of Councillor
A. F. McDonald, which they completely demolished, scattering its contents
on the sidewalk. After some further outrages, as parading defenceless
citizens through the streets, beating them with rifles and pricking them
with bayonets, yelling, meanwhile, as they passed along the thoroughfares,
"Come out, you God damned Mormons and Mountain Meadows massacreers,"
they returned to camp.10

The only provocation for this
disturbance appears to have been the fact that Miller refused to grant
the soldiers, at their own terms, the use of a hall in which to hold a
social gathering, and that the bishops had counselled the people of their
wards, and especially the young women, not to hold intercourse with them.
An effort was made to bring the offenders to justice, but, as during the
administration of Governor Cumming, there was no harmony between the chief
magistrate and the commander of the forces. After waiting several days
for action to be taken by the military, Shaffer despatched to General
De Trobriand, at Camp Douglas, a letter, in which he stated that if the
soldiery could not be restrained, it were better for

10A despatch
from A. O. Smoot, mayor of Provo, giving an account of the outrage, together
with the depositions of the injured parties, will be found in the Deseret
News, Sept. 28, 1870.

the territory to be left to itself. To this the general
replied that he was perfectly agreed; that it would be the best thing
for all if the territory, its governor, legislature, municipalities, and
militia, were left to themselves; and that if the troops had also been
left alone, instead of being poisoned physically with bad whiskey and
morally with bad influences, there would have been no trouble with them.
Both letters were published in the Deseret News,11
and of course drew forth much comment from the saints, who were probably
of opinion that, if the soldiers had such proclivities, it was at least
the business of their commanding officer to restrain them.

No further incident remains to
be chronicled as to the career of Governor Shaffer, whose decease occurred
in October 1870,12 his successor
being Vernon H. Vaughan,13 a mild
and conservative ruler, concerning whose brief administration there is
nothing worthy of record.14 To
him succeeded George L. Woods, a Missourian by birth, a pronounced anti-Mormon,
and one who, as a ferryman in Idaho,15
and judge and politician in eastern Oregon, had accumulated and lost a
considerable fortune. He was a man who, though by no means of the highest
and purest morality himself, was, it seems, exceedingly jealous

11Of Oct.
5, 1870, and also in the Deseret Evening News, the publication of
which will be mentioned later. De Trobriand states that, as there was no
organization of military districts in the department of the Platte (which
included Utah), the commanders of the several posts must communicate with
the department headquarters, and that as soon as he received the requisite
authority he proceeded to Provo and held an investigation. His letter is
extremely insulting and indecorous.

12On
the 24th of this month Wm H. McKay, with whom the governor had resided,
and two others, robbed the U.S. mail about 100 miles south of S. L. City,
in Juab co. They were captured the next day, and McKay was sentenced to
five years' imprisonment. This was the first mail-coach robbery in Utah.
Smith's Rise, Progress, and Travels, 64. For argument between J.
P. Newman and Orson Pratt at the tabernacle on the polygamy question during
the autumn of this year, see Millennial Star, xxxii. 599-604, passim.

13Shaffer's
secretary, and about a month after his decease appointed governor. Geo.
A. Black, secretary to Woods, was also acting governor in 1871. Paul's
Utah Incidents, MS.; Harrison's Crit. Notes on Utah, MS.

14Harrison's
Crit. Notes on Utah, MS., 32.

15At
Lewiston, where he and his two partners made from $250 to $300 a day.
Woods' Recoll., MS., 3.

for the morality of the nation. On the 10th of March,
1871, Woods took the oath of office, and about six weeks later arrived
at Salt Lake City, James B. McKean of New York being appointed about this
date chief justice, with C. M. Hawley of Illinois and O. F. Strickland
of Michigan as associate judges.16

The administration of Governor
Woods lasted for about four years, but during that period he sought no
opportunity of making the acquaintance of Brigham Young. When invited
by the first councillor to call, as had been the custom with his predecessors,17
he replied that the lowest subordinate in the United States ranked higher
than any ecclesiastic on earth, and that he should not call until the
president first called on him. The reader may judge the chief magistrate
by his own words. "My first conflict with the church occurred,"
he says, "July 4, 1871. The organic act of the territory made the
governor commander-in-chief of the militia. The Mormon legislature, prior
to that time, usurped that authority, and invested it in Daniel H. Wells,
the third in the church. (They had a pantomime, in which B. Young played
God the Father, Daniel H. Wells God the Son, and John H. Smith the Holy
Ghost.) That law was in force on my arrival. On July 1, 1871, Wells issued
an order as commander-in-chief to the militia of the territory to assemble
at Salt Lake City July 4th to participate in the celebration. I resented
this usurpation, and forbade them to assemble, but my prohibition was
disregarded. Thereupon I ordered to the rendezvous three companies of
infantry, one of cavalry, and a battery of artillery, and dispersed them
at the point of the bayonet. This practically ended the Nauvoo legion.
Immediately thereafter,

16Chas C.
Wilson succeeded Titus as chief justice. Harrison's Crit. Notes on Utah,
MS. Geo. C. Bates, who in 1870 succeeded C. H. Hempstead, appointed in 1868,
was now district attorney. For his argument in the Baker habeas corpus case
on the jurisdiction of probate courts, see Utah Pamphlets, Political,
no. 12. A list of federal officials between 1851 and 1884 is given in Utah
Gazetteer, 254-8.

by concerted action of the federal officials, an effort
was made to punish judicially the church criminals."18

The governor was ably seconded
by the chief justice. In October Brigham Young, George Q. Cannon, and
others were arrested for lascivious cohabitation. Motion made to quash
the indictment was overruled by McKean; "for," he remarked,
"while the case at bar is called the people versus Brigham Young,
its other and real title is Federal Authority versus Polygamic Theocracy."
In the indictment were sixteen counts, extending back to the year 1854,
thus attempting to give an ex post facto interpretation to the act of
1862. The president's health was feeble at this time, and on the application
of his attorney, a continuance was granted until the March term. One Thomas
Hawkins, however, was convicted during this term, on the evidence of his
first or legal wife, sentenced under this act to three years' imprisonment
with hard labor, and fined $500. But the severest portion of the sentence
was the homily. "Thomas Hawkins," commenced the chief justice,
"I am sorry for youvery sorry. You may not think so now, but
I shall try to make you think so by the mercy which I shall show you The
law gives me large discretion in passing sentence upon you. I might both
fine and imprison you, or I might fine you only or imprison you only It
is right that you should be fined, among other reasons to help to defray
the expense of enforcing the laws."19

Two or three days before sentence
was passed on Hawkins, this being of course a test case, Daniel H. Wells
and Hosea Stout were arrested on a charge of murder, Brigham Young, William
H. Kimball, and others being indicted on a similar charge.20
Wells

was admitted to bail,21
Stout and Kimball were handed over to the authorities at Camp Douglas,
and Brigham, hearing that his case was set for the 8th of January, 1872,
immediately set out from southern Utah, where he was sojourning, and travelling
over 350 miles of mountainous country in midwinter, delivered himself
into custody. He was placed in charge of the marshal, bail being refused
even in the sum of $500,000, and detained a prisoner in his own house,
until discharged on the 25th of April, by Justice White, on a writ of
habeas corpus.22

In sore disgust, the people of
Utah adopted yet another constitution, which was forwarded to congress,
together with a memorial for admission as a state, but without result.23
A bill was passed appropriating $50,000 toward the expenses of the constitutional
convention, but was vetoed by the governor, who gave, among other reasons,
the open violation of the act of 1862, and the crimes committed against
law and public decency in the name of religion.24
So far, indeed, did the governor push his privilege, that he insisted
even on nominating the territorial librarian and the superintendent of
common schools.25

Meanwhile the condition of affairs
in the superior courts of Utah was simply lamentable. During a

21The
prosecuting attorney asked that the bail fixed at $500;000, but the judge
said he would be satisfied with two sureties each of $50,000. Deseret
News, Nov. 1, 1871.

22Millennial
Star, xxxvii. 788-91. In the case of Clinton et al. vs Englebrecht
et al., the judgment rendered for $60,000 against the municipal officers
of S. L. City it for suppressing an unlicensed liquor store was reversed
by the supreme court. Millennial Star, xxxiv. 296. For grounds,
see Smith's Rise, Progress, and Travels, 68-9. This decision annulled
indictments against more than 120 persons.

portion of McKean's term of office there were no funds
wherewith to defray expenses, and the so-called administration of justice
was openly burlesqued. In 1872 the removal of the chief justice was urged
by the legislature.26 This was
not yet to be; but after some further judicial blunders,27
he was finally superseded in March 1875 by David T. Lowe.28

For ten years William H. Hooper
had been delegate to congress, and was in need of rest. He had done his
duty faithfully; more acceptably, perhaps, to members of congress than
any of his predecessors, and it was no easy task to fill his place. George
Q. Cannon was the man selected, although an apostle and a practical polygamist.
The election of Cannon was contested by George R. Maxwell, registrar of
the land-offlce,29 who in 1870
had received a few hundred votes, as against 26,000 in favor of Hooper;
but in that year and again in 1874 had no well-grounded hope of success,
save his reliance on popular prejudice. At the first session of the forty-third
congress he prevailed on one of the members from New York to introduce
a resolution embodying a number of charges against the apostle. The reading
of his certificate was then demanded, in which it appeared that he had
a majority of 20,000 votes, and thereupon he was admitted.30

26Utah
Jour. Legisl., 1872, p. 231.

27In
his charge to the grand jury, October term, 1874, MeKean, after quoting
Montesquieu, 'I shall first examine the relation which laws have to the
nature and principle of each government,' 'and if I can but once establish
it, the laws will soon appear to flow from thence as from their source,'
stigmatizes the Mormons in more vile and insulting phrase than had been
used even by judges Brocchus and Drummond. See Deseret News, Oct.
14, 1874; Millennial Star, xxxiii. 550.

29Maxwell
entered the union army when 17 years of age, and at 21 was a brigadier-general.
During the war he had both legs broken, his right arm fractured, lost
three fingers of his left hand by a sabre-cut, and had his collarbone
broken by grape-shot, besides receiving several flesh wounds. Woods'
Recollections, MS., 39-49.

30For
further particulars as to the Cannon-Maxwcel contest, see House Misc.
(cont.)

The contest between Cannon and
Maxwell was sharp but decisive, a thorough canvass being made by the latter,
and its results showing how completely the saints were in unison with
their church leaders. Many persons could have been found better qualified
than the apostle, notwithstanding his great ability, but Brigham had so
willed it. At this election, if we can believe the chief magistrate, freedom
of speech was first used in Utah, and by Governor Woods. Here as on other
occasions31 he intermeddled, playing

William H. Hooper was born at
the old homestead known as Warwick Manor, Eastern Shore, Md, in 1813,
his father, who died during William's infancy being of English descent,
and his mother of Scotch extraction. When 14 years of age he obtained
a position in a store; and from this beginning rose step by step, until
in 1836 we find him a member of a leading commercial firm at Galena, Ill.
During the crash of 1838 the firm suspended, their debts, amounting to
$200,000, being afterward paid in full. In 1850 he moved to Salt Lake
City under engagement to Messrs Holliday & Warner, commencing business
on his own account some four years later. In 1856 he was temporarily appointed
secretary of the territory after the death of Almon W. Babbitt, and in
1859, as we have seen, was chosen delegate for Utah at the 36th congress,
serving in the same capacity during the 39th, 40th, and 41st congresses.
In 1808 Mr Hooper was appointed a director of Zion's Coöperative
Mercantile Institution, and in 1877 became its president, retaining that
position until his decease at the close of 1882. For further particulars,
see Tullidge's Mag., i. 369-85, 427-30; Contributor, iv.
184-6, suppl. 25-7; Beadle's Western Wilds, 91-2; Deseret News,
Feb. 8, 1860. Hooper was an able speaker, terse, to the point, and forensic.
'If,' he replied in answer to a memorial of the Salt Lake gentile lawyers,
'congress declined to enact a law that would have enabled Chief Justice
Chase to pick out a jury that should convict Jefferson Davis of treason,
ought it now to enable Chief Justice McKean to pick out a jury to convict
Brigham Young of polygamy? It seems to me that the law would be a greater
offence against the spirit of democratic republican institutions than
is the existence of the evil thus sought to be reached.'

31In
consequence of the military riot above mentioned, the police were instructed
to arrest disorderly or drunken soldiers on slight provocation, and fine
them or put them to work in chain-gangs. After protesting without avail,
Woods reported the matter to the war department, and thereupon a general
order was issued to the commanders of military posts, instructing them
not to allow the arrest of their men except for violation of the known
laws of the land. Soon afterward a soldier was arrested on a trifling
charge, whereat, his release being refused, the governor proceeded to
the jail with Major Gordon and a detachment of troops, knocked out the
wall with a battering-ram, and 'amid hurrahs for the American flag, set
the prisoner free.' Woods' Recoll., MS., 53-5.

the part rather of a sergeant of militia than of a ruler.
A woman who appeared at the polls and offered her ballot was refused,
and insisting on her privilege, was removed by the police, by order of
Jeter Clinton, judge of election. Woods protested, whereupon Clinton threatened
to arrest him, but after an unseemly altercation, the latter, according
to the governor's account, narrowly escaping being lynched by the gentiles,
was dragged fainting by the chief magistrate into a gentile store, while
the life of Woods was also threatened by the Mormons. The matter was settled
without bloodshed.32 What business
the chief magistrate had at the polls he does not explain, though he closed
the proceedings by a defiance of the Mormons and their threats, while
illustrating what he considered freedom of speech in phrase which contained
at least considerable freedom of language.

At the close of 1874 Woods retired
from office,33 his successor being
S. B. Axtell of California, whose policy brought on him the censure of
the gentile press, by which he was accused of complicity with the Mormon
leaders in their political and other designs.34
He was removed in June 1875, his successor being George B. Emery of Tennessee,
who held office until January 1880. Emery's policy was strictly neutral,

32Id.,
55-9.

33See
for the memorial presented by the gentiles, setting forth the immorality
and despotism of the Mormons and the insecurity of life among the gentiles,
House Misc. Doc., 43d Cong. 1st Sess., no. 120; for opinion of
various newspapers on the Mormon question, Deseret News, Jan. 17,
1872; for denial by gentile merchants of the disturbed condition of affairs,
as alleged in various newspapers, Id., May 8, 1872. In 1867, and
again during the administration of Woods, it was proposed to annex Utah
to Nevada without consulting much the wishes of either. For reports of
committee of the senate of Nevada on the matter, see Nev. Jour. Ass.,
1867, 183-4, 195-7; Nev. Jour. Sen., 1871, 160-2; Millennial
Star, xxxiii. 161-2.

Samuel Paul, a native of Londonderry,
Ireland, who served for four years as a volunteer during the war, and
came to Utah in 1865, says that while the Mormons would render no assistance
to the governor or his so-called ring, he was well treated in all the
settlements which he visited. Paul's Utah Incidents, MS. For description
of and comments on the political ring from a Mormon standpoint, see Millennial
Star, xxxiv. 68-70; xxxvi. 120-2; for Vorhees' and Wheeler's bill,
introduced April 1, 1872, 'to aid the enforcement of the laws of the territory
of Utah,' see Deseret News, April 17, 1872.

and therefore he was roundly abused by the gentile press.35
It is worthy of note, however, that as the Mormons were now for the first
time left undisturbed, there was little which needs record in their annals
as a body politic,36 except that
from their midst passed one whose place never could be filled. At the
obsequies of the great president who had cut the cords of slavery, and
being asked to banish its sister institution, said "Let them alone,"
believing that in time it would banish itself, none felt the nation's
loss more grievously than did the Mormons. And now on the 29th of August,
1877, Brigham Young was summoned to render his account at the great tribunal
before which all must appear.

Although for several years he
had been in feeble health, he was able to attend to his manifold duties
until six days before his death. Retiring at eleven o'clock on the night
of Thursday, the 23d of August, after delivering an address before the
bishops' meeting in the council-house, he was seized with an attack of
cholera-morbus, and suffered severely till the morning of the following
Saturday, when he obtained a few hours' sleep, opiates being administered
to relieve the pain caused by cramping of the muscles. During the afternoon,
however, inflammation of the bowels set in, and throughout this and the
following day he continued to moan at intervals, though when asked whether
he was in pain he invariably replied, "No, I don't know that I am."
On Monday morning there were strong symptoms of nervous prostration, among
which was a constant moving of the hands and twitching of the

35See S. L. C.
Tribune, April 14, June 2, 1877.

36On
the 22d of April, 1876, Dom Pedro, emperor of Brazil, visited Salt Lake
City on his way eastward; and on October 3, 1875, President Grant, this
being the first occasion on which a president of the United States set
foot in the territory. For account of these visits, and also those of
General Sheridan, Henri Rochefort, Jay Gould, and William Hepworth Dixon
in 1874, James G. Blaine in 1873, generals Garfield and McClellan and
the Japanese embassy in 1872, see files of the Deseret News; Utah
Jour. Legisl., 1872; Ventromiles' Tour, 74-5; Tullidge's
Life of Young, 441. Sheridan's visit was mainly for the purpose of
establishing another military post in Utah, Provo being the point selected.

muscles. During all this time his only nourishment was
a tablespoonful of milk and brandy, administered at brief intervals, in
the proportion of one ounce of the latter to eight of the former. At 10
o'clock on Monday night he sank into a comatose condition, from which
he was aroused with difficulty by stimulating injections, and early on
the following morning he sank down on his bed apparently lifeless. Artificial
respiration was resorted to, and hot poultices were placed over the heart
to stimulate its action.37 Thus
his life was preserved for a few hours longer; but at five o'clock on
the afternoon of the 29th of August, 1877, being then in his seventy-seventh
year, he passed away quietly, surrounded by his family and intimate friends,
the last rites of the church being administered by several of the apostles,
to whom he responded in a clear and unfaltering voice, "Amen!"38

At eight o'clock on the morning
of the 1st of September the remains of President Youug, escorted by members
of his own family, by members of the twelve, and by others of the priesthood,
were conveyed to the tabernacle, the coffin being enclosed in a metallic
case draped in white and wreathed with flowers. The funeral rites were
appointed for noon on the following day, and during each hour of the interval
a constant stream of visitors, numbering in all some twenty-five thousand,
passed through the great aisle of the building, all being allowed to stop
and gaze for a moment

37On the
evening of Tuesday a consultation was held by his physicians, S. B. Young,
W. F. Anderson, J. M. Benedict, and F. D. Benedict, and it was resolved
to fill up the lower portion of the bowels by injection, for the purpose
of causing an action through the alimentary canal; but this treatment was
discontinued on account of fainting symptoms. The coma was attributed to
the pressure of the swollen bowels, which checked the circulation to the
heart and lungs. Deseret Ev. News, Aug. 31, 1877.

38Francis
Dorr, who crossed the plains in 1850, and rendering assistance to the
Mormon trains, was told by Brigham that he would ever be welcome to Salt
Lake City, paid the Mormons avisit in 1877, and was kindly received by
their prominent men. He is of opinion that Brigham's last illness was
partly caused by fear of being arrested and tried for complicity in the
Mountain Meadows massacre. Dorr's Statement, MS., 3. I find no
confirmation of this theory, which is extremely improbable, in view of
the evidence and the statements of the counsel for the prosecution at
the Lee trial. See pp. 566-8, this vol.

on the features of him who had been to them for so many
years as their God on earth, their faithful guide and counsellor. Throughout
the territory flags were hung at half-mast, and civic and religious societies
united in rendering tribute to one who had gained the respect and almost
outlived the hatred of the civilized world. It was indeed a day of mourning
in Israel, of grievous and heart-felt mourning, for to all his followers
he had been a friend and benefactor, so far as they would accept his aid
and receive his teachings. From Europe, also, and from various portions
of the United States, came messages of condolence, and in every quarter
of the globe the death of Brigham Young excited more remark than would
that of a great monarch.

Throughout the entire day clouds
lowered in heavy masses over the city of the saints, and from them fell
light but frequent showers, as if in sympathy with the multitudes that
thronged the tabernacle; but on the morning of the 2d the sun rose over
a clear, unruffled sky, ushering in one of the calmest and brightest sabbaths
that had ever been seen in Zion. Long before the hour appointed for the
services, more than thirty thousand persons were gathered in or around
the tabernacle, the aisles, the doorways, and every inch of space being
occupied. The building was tastefully decorated. From the immense arch
which spans the interior depended strands and garlands of flowers grouped
in rich profusion, in their midst being a massive floral centre-piece.
Under the entire gallery wreaths were festooned between the pillars with
baskets pendent, the front of the platform, the stands, and the organ
being draped in black. The coffin, constructed according to the late president's
orders,39

39Nearly
four years before his death, Brigham gave instructions as to his funeral,
and at the same time a number of elders gave orders as to their own interment.
'I, Brighain Young, wish my funeral services to be conducted after the following
manner: When I breathe my last I wish my friends to put my body in as clean
and wholesome state as can conveniently be done, and preserve the same for
one, two, three, or four days, or as long as my body can be preserved in
a good condition. I want my coffin made of plump 1 1/4-inch (cont.)

decked with chaplets, but stripped of its case and drapery,
stood on a plain catafalque in view of the congregation. On the president's
stand were his councillors, John W. Young and Daniel H. Wells. The apostles,
of whom ten were present, occupied their accustomed seats, the north side
of the platform being set apart for the bishops and councillors of stakes,
and the south front for the city council, the band, and glee club; while
to the family of the deceased were allotted the seats immediately facing
the stands, his four brothers being in front.

Precisely at noon the vast assemblage
was called to order by George Q. Cannon, who, at the request of the president's
family, presided over the ceremonies. First was sung by a choir of two
hundred voices the hymn commencing:

"Hark from afar a funeral knell,"

to a tune composed for the obsequies of George A. Smith,
whose decease occurred in 1875,40
and now

(39cont.)redwood boards, not scrimped in length, but two inches longer
than I would measure, and from two to three inches wider than is commonly
made for a person of my breadth and size, and deep enough to place me on
a little comfortable cotton bed, with a good suitable pillow for size and
quality; my body dressed in my temple clothing, and laid nicely into my
coffin, and the coffin to have the appearance that if I wanted to turn a
little to the right or left I should have plenty of room to do so.' After
giving instructions as to the services and place and method of interment,
he concludes: 'I wish this to be read at the funeral; providing, that if
I should die anywhere in the mountains, I desire the above directions respecting
my place of burial to be observed; but if I should live to go back with
the church to Jackson county, I wish to be buried there.' Address of Geo.
Q. Cannon, in Deseret News, Aug. 31, 1877.

40George
Albert Smith, cousin to the prophet on the father's side, his mother being
descended from the Lymans of revolutionary fame, was born at Potsdam,
N. Y., in 1817. In the spring of 1833 the family started for Kirtland,
where they were heartily welcomed, and during the summer George was employed
in quarrying and hauling rock, and other duties in connection with the
building of the Kirtland temple. He was also one of those who went up
to redeem Zion in Jackson co., Mo., returning three months later after
travelling some 2,000 miles, most of the way on foot. Of his missionary
labors mention has already been made. Ordained a member of the first quorum
of seventies in 1835 and an apostle in 1839, he was one of the pioneer
band at the exodus from Nauvoo, and almost until the day of his death
took a prominent part in settling and redeeming the vales of Deseret.
Elected member for Iron co. under the provisional state government, he
was afterward appointed church historian, and represented the same constituency
during several sessions of the territorial legislature. After the death
of Heber C. Kimball in 1868, he was appointed first councillor to Brigham,
having previously been elected president of the legislative council, which
latter office he held during (cont.)

used for the second time. Then followed prayer by Franklin
D. Richards, after which addresses were delivered by Daniel H. Wells,
Wilford Woodruff, Erastus Snow, George Q. Cannon, and John Taylor. A second
funeral hymn was sung,41 a benediction
pronounced by Orson Hyde, the congregation was dismissed, and the remains
of Brigham Young were conveyed to their resting-place at his private cemetery
in the suburbs of the city, where thousands gathered to witness the closing
ceremonies.42

Some thirty years had now elapsed
since the president of the church, stricken with mountain fever and seeking
for the remnant of his followers an abiding-place, had stood enwrapped
in vision on the Pisgah of the west, and as he gazed for the first time
on the desert and dead sea that lay beneath, forecast the future glory
of Zion.43 And who shall say that
he had not lived to see his vision realized? During these years, which
compassed scarce the span of a single generation, he had built cities
and temples; he had converted the waste lands of Deseret into gardens
and grain-fields; he had laid the basis of a system of manufactures and
commerce that was already the envy of older and more favored communities;
he had sent forth his missionaries to all the civilized countries of the
earth, and gathered the chosen of Israel from many nations; he had rescued
myriads from the sorest depths of poverty, giving to all a livelihood,
and to

42In
accordance with his father's instructions, a stone vault had been built
by John W. Young in the south-east corner of the cemetery. It was of cut
stone, dowelled and bolted with steel and laid in cement. The interior
was also cemented and whitened. Deseret News, Aug. 29, 1877, where
is a full description of the obsequies, afterward published in pamphlet
form, and entitled Death of President Brigham Young.

the deserving and capable a competence. All this he had
accomplished, beginning wellnigh without a dollar,44
and in a region forsaken by mankind for its worthlessness, struggling
at times almost hopelessly against the unkindliness of nature and the
unkindliness of man.

Esteemed by his followers as an
angel of light, and considered by his foes as a minister of evil, an impostor,
a hypocrite, a murderer, he was in fact simply an enthusiast, a bigoted
and egotistical enthusiast, as the world believes, but a practical and
farsighted man, one who by his will, ability, and intuitive knowledge
of human nature was fitted to combat the difficulties that beset each
step in his path of life, and to give cohesion to the heterogeneous elements
of which his people was composed. "As I sat near his bed," remarked
George Q. Cannon, "and thought of his death, if it should occur,
I recoiled from the contemplation of the view. It seemed to me that he
was indispensable. What could we do without him? He has been the brain,
the eye, the ear, the mouth, and hand for the entire people of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From the greatest details connected
with the organization of this church down to the smallest minutiæ
connected with the work, he has left upon it the impress of his great
mind."45

Not least among the traits in
the character of Brigham was the faculty for accumulating wealth; and
this he did, not, as his enemies have asserted, by

44He had
about $50, then almost the only money in Utah.

45For
sketches of the character, physique, and policy of Brigham Young, see,
among others, Hist. Brigham Young, MS; Utah Early Records,
MS., passim; Richards' Rem., MS 15; Richards Narr., MS.,
83-4; Burton's City of the Saints, 290-4, 300; Hyde's Mormonism,
137-8; Tullidge's a Life of Young, 456-8; Utah Pamphlets, Religious,
no. 3, p. 19; Bowles' Across the Continent, 86-7; Mackay's The
Mormons, 286; Stenhouse's Englishwoman, 163-7; Young's Wife
No. 19, 162-5; Beadle's Life in Utah, 265-7,362; Richardson's
Beyond the Mississippi, 352-3; Rae' s Westward by Rail, 106-7;
Ludlow's Heart of the Continent, 366-9, 371-3; Rusling, Across
America, 177-8. Mention is made of these points in more detail on
pp. 200-6, this vol. A history of Brigham Young is published in the Deseret
News, commencing with the issue of Jan. 27, 1858, and continued in
subsequent numbers.

foul means,46
but by economy and close attention to his business interests. Of all the
business men in Utah he was perhaps the most capable, but in the art of
making money he had no set system; merely the ability for turning money
to account and for taking care of it. He purchased saw-mills and thrashing-machines,
for instance, and let them out on shares; he supplied settlers and emigrants
with grain and provisions; from the lumber and firewood which he sold
to the troops at Camp Floyd he is supposed to have netted some $200,000,
and from other contracts a much larger sum. By many he is accused of enriching
himself from the appropriations of tithes, and by plundering alike both
saint and gentile, whereas none paid his church dues more punctually or
subscribed to charities more liberally than did the president. That with
all his opportunities for making money honestly and with safety he should
put in peril his opportunities and his high position by stooping to such
fraud as was commonly practised among United States officials of exalted
rank, is a charge that needs no comment.47
He had a great advantage in being able to command men and dictate measures,
but he did not rob the brethren, as many have asserted. At his decease
the value of his estate was estimated at $2,500,000,48
though as trustee for the church he controlled a much larger amount.

46Stenhouse,
for instance, relates that in 1852 he balanced his account with the church,
amounting to $200,000, by directing his clerk to place this sum to his credit
for services rendered, and that in 1867 he discharged his liabilities, amounting
to $967,000, in a similar manner. Rocky Mountain Saints, 665. Such
statements are pure fiction.

47In
the records of the internal revenue office at Washington his total income
for 1870 is stated at $25,500, in 1871 at $111,680, and in 1872 at $39,952.

48It
has been stated in several books and many newspaper paragraphs that Brigham
had large deposits in the Bank of England, the amount being placed as
high as $20,000,000. This is entirely untrue. Stenhouse, for instance,
says that a New York journalist who visited him in 1871 inquired as to
this report, the sum being then stated at $17,000,000. Brigham replied
that he had not a dollar outside of Utah, but that the church had some
small amount abroad for its use. The following extract from Richards'
Narr., MS., may serve to explain the matter: 'The rumor that President
Young ever had any money in the Bank of England is entirely false. When
I was in Liverpool I (cont.)

Brigham was certainly a millionaire,
but his fortune barely sufficed to provide for his family a moderate competence,
for he had married twenty wives,49
and unto him were born more than fifty children, of whom 16 boys and 29
girls survived him. In the body of his will the wives were divided into
classes, and to each of them was given a homestead, the sum of $25, payable
one month after his decease, and such amount payable in monthly instalments
as in the opinion of his executors might be needed for their comfortable
support.50

(48cont.)opened an account with the branch of the Bank of England
in that city, but finding their charges too high, transferred it to the
Royal Bank of Liverpool, where it remained between 1850 and 1867. On the
failure of the bank I was fortunate enough to get my money. There was a
time in our business when there was $20,000, or $30,000 to our credit. This
money came from the profits on publications, and from the deposits of people
who wished to emigrate. Donations were also remitted to us from Utah, and
the company's fund was sustained by the emigration business.' Franklin D.
Richards, the author of this manuscript, was nephew to Willard Richards,
who, as will be remembered, was appointed secretary of the Perpetual Emigration
Fund Company. See p. 415, this vol.

49In
1869, at which date the Boston board of trade visited S. L. City,
Brigham said that he had 16 living and 4 deceased wives, and 49 surviving
children. This was the first time that Mormon or gentile knew how many
his family mustered. Utah Notes, MS., 1-2. In Waite's The Mormon
Prophet, 191-214, is a burlesqued description of some of his wives,
and of their treatment. Wife No. 19, or the Story of a Life
in Bondage, being a Complete Exposé of Mormonism, by Ann Eliza
Young, is, though the writer affects to be impartial, rather a discharge
of venom by a woman scorned. She was of mature age when married, and if
she had not then sense enough to understand the responsibilities she was
assuming, one would think that, some years later, she ought at least to
have had discretion enough to abstain from inflicting her book and lectures
on the public. The most valuable part of the work, if it can be said to
have any value, is the chapter on the case of Young vs Young, in which
Judge McKean awarded to the plaintiff $500 a month as alimony, and committed
defendant to jail for refusing to pay it. His decision was reversed by
Judge Lowe.

50For
copy of will, see S. L. C. Tribune, Aug. 19, 1883. It
has been alleged that Brigham claimed to be a prophet. This he distinctly
denied. In Utah Notes, MS., it is stated that the lame, halt, and
blind flocked to him to be healed, and that he used great tact in dealing
with them. One man who had lost a leg came to him to be made whole. Brigham
said it should be as he wished; but those created with two legs would
have two legs in heaven; hence, if he casused a new one to be framed,
the man would have three for all eternity.

Patriarch and President John Young,
brother to Brigham, died April 27, 1870. For biographical sketch, see
Deseret News, May 4, 1870. The decease of Joseph A., Brigham's
eldest son, occurred Aug. 10, 1875. For biography, see Utah Jour. Legisl.,
1876, pp. 206-8. On July 10th of this year died Martin Harris, one of
the three witnesses to the authenticity of the book of Mormon. His age
was 92. Among others whose decease occurred during the period to which
this chapter refers may be mentioned Ezra Taft Benson, (cont.)

(50cont.)a native of Mendon, Mass., who worked on his father's farm
until he was 16 years of age, afterward becoming hotel-keeper, and later
proprietor of a cotton-mill in the same state. In 1839 we find him at
Quincy, Ill., whither he had gone in search of a home, and where, during
the following year, he was converted by the preaching of Orson Hyde and
John E. Page. In the autumn of 1849 he was ordained an elder, and in the
summer of 1845 an apostle, most of th interval being passed in missionary
work in the eastern states. In April 1847 he accompanied the pioneers,
finally settling in the valley two years later. After some further missionary
work, he was appointed, in 1860, brigadier-general of militia in the Cache
Valley district, where he lived until the dare of his decease, Sept. 3,
1869, his death being probably caused by heart disease. When the provisional
government was established be represented Salt Lake county in the legislature,
and when Utah was made a territory was chosen a member, first of the representatives
for Salt Lake county, and for the last ten years of his life, of the council
for Tooele county. Deseret News, Sept. 8, 1869. At his death joint
resolutions were passed in the assembly as a tribute of respect, for which
see Utah Jour. Legisl., 1870, 185-6.